Method and apparatus for continuous distillation of tars and oils



Feb. 1.6 192e. 1,573,370

y E. BLUMNER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION OF TARS AND OILS Filed April 11 1921 Patented Feb. 16., 1926.

UNITED STAT-Es PATENT OFFICE.

EBWIN BLMNER, F BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY.

METIEIIOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION 0F TABS AND OILS.

- Application led April 11, 1921. Serial No. 460,573.

To all fwLomvz't may concern.' l

Be it known that I, ER'wrN BLMNER, a. citizen of Switzerland, and a resident of Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany, have invented a certain new and useful Method and Apparatus for Continuous Distillation of Tars and Oils, ofwhichthe following is a specification. s

In the present process, and the apparatus for carrying out the said process, for the continuous distillation of tars and oils an extremely economical disintegrating-"pressure distillation is attained with comparatively simple means, without diflicult and ineiiicient heat transmission and moving mechanisms, at pressures above or below atmospheric, by employing molten metal or metallic yalloys as heating medium.

According to the invention the process is so conducted, and the apparatus so arranged, that the liquid toobedistilled does not come -into contact with the walls of thepressure chamber, which are heated by contact with hot-gases, so that all deposition of carbon,

and the consequent loss of material and heat, is revented andall damage to the walls avolded.

In tlenew distilling process the liquids to be distilled, which may be previously warmed, after passing through nozzles or other appropriate devices which reduce them to a finely divided condition are forced as small particles, or in vaporized form, through a bath of suitable molten metalor appropriate alloy of desired constant distillation temperature, situated above the inlet nozzles or similar @vices and partly lling a heated autoclave, an`d finally-co1- lected above the surface of the molten metal.

Evaporation is avoided as far as possible,

By the use of an appropriate iitting in the interior of the autoclave the process can be so conducted that, as a result of the circulationr of the molten metal the latter is continuously heated at the walls of the autoclave, Without allowing the fine particles of G0 the liquid to be distilled, which ascend through the molten metal, to come into immediate contact with the said heating walls. The liquid to be distilled only ascends within the said tting, in which the above mentioned filling material is advisably eX- clusively confined, through the molten metal. This arrangement avoids all accumulation of heat at certain points only.

The temperature of the molten metal, which is to be imparted to the tar or oil particles passing through the bath, may, for example, be 400 to 500 centigrade'at a pressure of 50 to 60 atmospheres in the autoclave.

Tin or suitable tin or other alloys come into consideration, as examples, for the molten metal bath. If metals which combine with sulphur, such as lead, zinc or calcium are mixed in the bath, the sulphur 50 combinations in the tars distilled are separated in the form of sulphides, thus simultaneously desulphurizing the tar.

A characteristic of the present process is, that the quantity of the tar or oil to be heated passing through the autoclave at any time is very small in proportion to the large heat-accumulator whlch the molten metal bath represents.' This fact, together with the disintegration and the passing of the liquid' to be distilled through the molten metal in the'form of small particles, presents a considerable divergence from all other known processes. The quantities of oil supplied to the autoclave, the heating temperature of the molten metal bath, the heat capacity as well as4 the interchange of heat in the molten metal, and the relation of the pressure within and outside the pressure chamber can, when the process is correctly conductedl according to the present invention, be easily so adjusted that a con tinual distillation of tars and oils is secured in all cases, without disturbing temperature drop in the molten metal bath orlother troublesome phenomena. This is mainly due to thefact that the apparatus iis-'extremely simple,.and that a'regular uninterin practical application -on a large scale isL n suitably mounted in masonry and heated by Cal hot gases, a fitting al, consisting for instance of sheet-metal, is mounted at a certain distance from the surrounding walls of the autoclave, and provided with a sieve base g at a certain height above the bottom of the autoclave, and closed at the top by a sieve cover 7. rlfhis sieve fitting d, which contains the filling material It, for instance, so-call-ed ltaschig rings between the sieves and g, is so irmly supported in any appropriate manner in the interior of the autoclave t that it cannot change its position within the molten metal bath i, which fills the autoclave a to above the level of the sieve j?, even under the induence of the circulation oi' the molten metal under practical working conditions.

rlhe liquid to'be distilled,:which is to be heated in the autoclave 0:, is, in the present case, conducted through the pipe Z2, which, for warming purposes descends through the molten metal bath e", and is sprayed in the form of fine particles into the moltenmetal bath by means of the jet-nozzles 0 situated in the space between the bottom of the hxture al and the lower sieve g. rlhe fine particles in passing through the molten metal, and between the filling material la, are brought to. the temperature of the metal bath and pass in a correspondingly heated condition, and without having come into contact with the heated walls of the autoclave c, through the upper surface i of the molten metal, into the space above. From there the liquid to be distilled passes through thevent L and a preferably automatic valve (not shown in the drawing) into the first condensing chamber, evaporating for the greater part outside the autoclave on account of the drop in pressure. rllhe resulting products of distillation are then fractionated in known manner.

A continuous compensation for the heat losses caused by the moltenmetal imparting its heat to the passing particles of the liquid to be distilled, is attained by the cooled molten metal, in its circulation, coming into immediate contact with the heated walls ott theautoclave a in the ring-space formed between the fitting d and the walls of the autoclave, and subsequently again passing into the interior of the said fitting d through the slits in the wall and the bottom of the latter. The parts of the littiing l overlap, similar to the tiles of a roof, so that the oil or tar particles ascending through the molten metal in the interior of the fitting al cannot escape through the slits, and consequently cannot come into immediate contact with the heated walls of the autoclave a, whilst the circulation of the molten metal is not in any way impaired by the arrangement of the said slits.

l claim l. The method of distilling tars and oils, which include the steps of delivering the tars and oils to the lower portion of a column of hot liquid metal and retarding the upward flow through the metal while maintaining the tars and oils in finely subdivided condition, said upward How of the tars and oils effecting an upward circulation of the contiguous liquid metal, and permitting a return or downL dow of the metal out of the path of the rising tars and oils.

SLE

EZ. The method of distilling liquid hydrocarbons which includes the steps of maintaining a column of metal in a heated liquid condition, delivering the hydrocarbons to the lower portion of the column, maintaining the hydrocarbon in a inely subdivided condition during the upward flow in the metal, and protecting them from the direct heating action by the walls of the column.

3. The method of distilling hydrocarbons, which includes the steps of heating a column of metal to maintain it liquefied, delivering the hydrocarbons to the lower portion of the column at a plurality of points through small orifices, maintaining the hydrocarbons ina finely subdivided condition during the upward flow through the metal, and protecting the hydrocarbons from direct heating action by the walls of the column.

1i. A still including a container for liquid metal and adapted to be externally heated, a packing of small inert solid bodies within the container, a reticulated support for said packing, and means for delivering the liquid to be distilled into the liquid metal in said container below said support.

5. A still including a container for liquid metal and adapted to be externally heated, a packing of small inert solid bodies within the container, a reticulated support for said packing, and a liquid delivery pipe having a plurality of nozzles within the liquid metal in said container and below said support.

6. A still including a container for liquid metal and adapted to be externally heated, an inner casing within said container and spaced from the walls thereof, a packing of loosely distributed inert solid bodies within said casing, and means for delivering liquid to be distilled to the container below the bottom of said casing, said casing having openings at the top and bottom whereby the liquid met-al may circulate upwardly within the casing and downwardly between. the a packing within said casn and upon said 10 walls of said casing and said container, support and formed of sma l, inert, loosely 7. A still including a container adapted distributed solid. b0dies,' liquefied metal to be externally heated, a casing Within said Wlthlll Sald COHalIler and illlng thev latter container and having a peripheral wall t0 9 IQVGLabOV? s ald Packllgjald meaPS spaced from the outer wall of the container for dffhvermg hqul@ t0 b@ dlstlued t0 Sad 15 and provided with upwardly and inwardl contalner below sald retlculated support. directed passages therethrough, a reticulate support above the bottom of the container, DR. ERWIN BLUMNER. 

